previously published on Asian Movie Pulse
The
US-born Laotian filmmaker Mattie Do is back on the festival
circuit with her third feature "The Long Walk". This
arthouse-genre hybrid premiered at Venice Days sidebar of 76th Venice
International Film Festival before its North American premiere at
Toronto and, having in mind Do's reputation for "Chantaly"
(2012) and "Dearest Sister" (2016), it will travel beyond
that both regarding the "regular" film festivals
(especially those "late night" sections) and more specific
genre-oriented ones.
As
her previous movies, it is a ghost story of sorts that follows some
genre conventions while also examining the (contemporary) Laotian
society. The plot is realized through two timelines separated by 50
years. It opens in the near future with an old man (Yannawoutthi
Chanthalungs) living in the rural area of scavenging motorcycle
parts for money. There is something sinister about his lonely
existence, especially with a notion that there is a serial killer
lurking in the area and him being one of the last persons who saw the
latest victim alive. The plot twists when the dead woman's daughter
(Vilouna Phetmany) and the police come to him asking for help:
apparently, he can speak to the ghosts. One of them, a young woman
(the first-timer Noutnapha Soydara), actually follows him...
The
other timeline is set in the recent past, with a boy (Por Silatsa)
finding a dead young woman (Soydara, again) in the swamp. It
might be his first contact with death, but it will not be the only
one: his mother (Chanthamone Inoudome) is ill with no chance
of recovery, while his father is largely absent, angry or drunk and
the small vegetable garden around the house needs tending to. How are
those two timelines connected, it is for us to see in the two hours
of the running time.
The
script by Do's regular screenwriter Christopher Larsen is
meticulously constructed and it moves in circles of mystery offering
the viewer a fair share of red herrings in the shape of recurring
details (the same ghost, the same house and some of the mise-en-scene
solutions are in both storylines) that still have to find the place
in the story. They eventually do, but the feeling is a bit confusing
for the first half of the film so patience is strongly advised.
The
understated science fiction bits and pieces (payments are handled
through microchips tattooed on the forearm of each person, supersonic
aircrafts are flying over the area and the motorbikes are designed in
the futuristic fashion even though they function is basically the
same) here to highlight the class conflict in nominally socialist
Laotian society, but they are not used to their maximum extent. And
combined with similarly frivolously used time travelling and ghost
aspects aim to add something to the spiritual dimension, but actually
accumulate the confusion. With an additional circle in the end and a
couple of plot twists, the feeling is that Mattie Do tried to be too
clever for her own good, no matter how good of a storyteller she is,
as she demonstrated in her previous works. But the film is still
intriguing and thought-provoking.
One
of Do's fortes is her work with the actors, especially with one of
her "Dearest Sister" veterans Yannawoutthi Chanthalungs
whose characters is the most complex of the bunch and also harbours
the most of the films mystery. His acting is compellingly understated
and his face shows the stoicism necessary to endure the hardships of
life. Vilouna Phetmany and Noutnapha Soydara are similarly gentle and
vulnerable in quite different roles and Por Silatsa's restrained
acting works well with the film.
Visually
interesting, shot in saturated contrast colours (green and yellow for
the exteriors, dark brown and grey under the dim light for the
interior), well acted and narratively unorthodox, "The Long
Walk" is a film worth the time spent on watching it. The film
also profits from the time taken for contemplating about it. It might
not be the peak of Do's career so far, but it is certainly something
new and fresh.
